I couldn't help but laugh when I heard today's blog topic. Just today one of my friends posted this little tidbit that fits along perfectly, even though I disagree with it.
So now that the world is all 1's and 0's; Does the delivery matter? Absolutely!
This may seem a little strange but I'm going to use Twitter as a prime example. Many people see Twitter as the end of "traditional" media. Why read a news paper when you can read it all in 140 characters? It is actually my belief that Twitter has forced media outlets into a new level of story telling. Before, you had the width of an article (headline) and occationally the hook to get your readers attention. Now, you have just 140 characters, minus the length of your URL. The language must be sharp, vivid and straight to the story. If you can't convince the reader in 140 characters, they're not going to bother with the rest. I believe this is the essence of what we're asked to blog about.
The very things that have always been important, still are. The only difference is a change of format. Who wants to read a spreadsheet about the current economic status? Very few. Most of the US would rather have a well researched piece of literature that not only tells us where we are but where we've been and where we could be going. The reader loves a storyteller, therefore the writer must have a love for telling the story. As for clear, vivid language; pictures and video still can't compete with the human imagination, at least not yet.
Ah, respect for history. This is something that I believe we Americans kind of fail at. Many times when I see a tragic or shocking happening, I know that it will all blow over in a few months. Just about 60 days is all it takes for us to do what we do best... forget. I actually believe that TV and social media are giving us a slight push in this direction. Twitter doesn't keep much of a history and neither does Facebook. But this is a place where great storytellers who use language that brings the past back to life, can excel. It is history that defines an object, a date, a website, an event. To lose the history is to allow the object itself to fall into obscurity.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Blog Bytes 1: Media Junkie
The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery rates me at a 26/100 points for being an "Internet Addict." Twenty points was the lowest possible score, so I guess I'm far from a "Media Junkie" right?
Well, lets just agree to disagree.
I would say that I'm a fairly big media junkie but I think the form and function of the media junkie has changed.
My biggest fix comes from mobile media. I have a Blackberry and I know full well the reason for which it earned its nickname of "CrackBerry." If I haven't checked the device (note that I didn't call it a phone
) for more than an hour, I start to get the shakes. My device has immediate inroads to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, sports scores and anywhere else the internet can take me. The "Crackberry" has single-handedly not only made me an "media junkie" but more of a "media nazi". With the ability to fire back messages, tweets, statuses, pictures and videos, its not only that you consume media, you interact with it.
I will admit that my work does have me at a significant disadvantage. I work in Information Technology, where you are encouraged to gather information. If I'm not on the trade sites or blogs at least once a day, I fall behind the market. Granted, this is nearly all work related but its still a level of information gathering that has become more of a habit than a task.
So how about home life? While significantly better, its no clean break. Most of my time at home is consumed by listening to TV or music... while checking "news" on my laptop or Blackberry. Even now as I'm typing this I'm listening to Last.fm and am chatting with a friend on GoogleTalk. Surely, the madness will come to an end when I sleep? Eh, mostly. I do have sleeping setting on my phone but it has some strategically placed alerts for certain people. These are all for very close friends and family and only applies to phone calls or text messages. All other notifications (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are silenced but rest assured, they are still there waiting for me when I get up.
So, how much time are we talking here? I would guess that the only time in a day when I'm truly away from technology is when I'm sleeping. I usually get about 8 hours. I'm also against using technology while driving and it takes me about 15 minutes to get to work. Assuming I come home for lunch and get 8 hours of sleep, that would put me at 9 hours a day that I do not spend with technology. That equates to 15 hours a day. Now, I don't do this everyday. On weekends I'm not found lounging on my couch. Lets say an average of 10 hours a day. Assuming that average, I spend about 152 days out of a year with technology. Astounding, if I do say so myself.
So what is my driving force with this digital crusade? By and large, its maintaining my level of education in my field of IT. I'm not going to lie though, I can sometimes be found hitting the "Random Article" button on Wikipedia and letting it take me into a world I wouldn't have otherwise known. A fair amount of my sponge-like info acquisition is simply for expanding knowledge.
Is it the best use of my time? No. No its not.
Is it better than other things I could be doing? Yes.
But here is the kicker for me: When I have something better or more important do to, can I put the technology away? Yes. Yes I do.
That's what this entire phenomenon comes down to in my eyes. When the time comes, can you leave the tech behind. I can honestly say that I can. I love camping and I have T-Mobile. Those two things do not mix as T-Mobile doesn't cover much outside of major cities or highways.
In closing, yes, I am a media junkie but I don't let it rule my life. Life comes first, tech comes in some other place. I would say second but that's putting its importance too close to life.
Well, lets just agree to disagree.
I would say that I'm a fairly big media junkie but I think the form and function of the media junkie has changed.
My biggest fix comes from mobile media. I have a Blackberry and I know full well the reason for which it earned its nickname of "CrackBerry." If I haven't checked the device (note that I didn't call it a phone
) for more than an hour, I start to get the shakes. My device has immediate inroads to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, sports scores and anywhere else the internet can take me. The "Crackberry" has single-handedly not only made me an "media junkie" but more of a "media nazi". With the ability to fire back messages, tweets, statuses, pictures and videos, its not only that you consume media, you interact with it.I will admit that my work does have me at a significant disadvantage. I work in Information Technology, where you are encouraged to gather information. If I'm not on the trade sites or blogs at least once a day, I fall behind the market. Granted, this is nearly all work related but its still a level of information gathering that has become more of a habit than a task.
So how about home life? While significantly better, its no clean break. Most of my time at home is consumed by listening to TV or music... while checking "news" on my laptop or Blackberry. Even now as I'm typing this I'm listening to Last.fm and am chatting with a friend on GoogleTalk. Surely, the madness will come to an end when I sleep? Eh, mostly. I do have sleeping setting on my phone but it has some strategically placed alerts for certain people. These are all for very close friends and family and only applies to phone calls or text messages. All other notifications (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are silenced but rest assured, they are still there waiting for me when I get up.
So, how much time are we talking here? I would guess that the only time in a day when I'm truly away from technology is when I'm sleeping. I usually get about 8 hours. I'm also against using technology while driving and it takes me about 15 minutes to get to work. Assuming I come home for lunch and get 8 hours of sleep, that would put me at 9 hours a day that I do not spend with technology. That equates to 15 hours a day. Now, I don't do this everyday. On weekends I'm not found lounging on my couch. Lets say an average of 10 hours a day. Assuming that average, I spend about 152 days out of a year with technology. Astounding, if I do say so myself.
So what is my driving force with this digital crusade? By and large, its maintaining my level of education in my field of IT. I'm not going to lie though, I can sometimes be found hitting the "Random Article" button on Wikipedia and letting it take me into a world I wouldn't have otherwise known. A fair amount of my sponge-like info acquisition is simply for expanding knowledge.
Is it the best use of my time? No. No its not.
Is it better than other things I could be doing? Yes.
But here is the kicker for me: When I have something better or more important do to, can I put the technology away? Yes. Yes I do.
That's what this entire phenomenon comes down to in my eyes. When the time comes, can you leave the tech behind. I can honestly say that I can. I love camping and I have T-Mobile. Those two things do not mix as T-Mobile doesn't cover much outside of major cities or highways.
In closing, yes, I am a media junkie but I don't let it rule my life. Life comes first, tech comes in some other place. I would say second but that's putting its importance too close to life.
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